Tag / modular

The Make Noise Maths is probably the most talked about Eurorack Module. It’s like a swiss army knife. It does many different things and it’s well loved. It just had a 2013 revision. It keeps what I think is the coolest name of any product ever and only costs $10 more. To see all what the new version adds watch the video above.

“MATHS is an analog computer designed for musical purposes. Amongst other things, it will allow you to: Generate a variety of linear, logarithmic, or exponential triggered or continuous functions, Integrate an incoming signal, With no signal applied, generate a variety of linear, logarithmic, or exponential functions. Add, subtract and OR up to 4 signals. Generate analog signals from digital information (Gate / Clock). Generate digital information (Gate / Clock) from analog signals. Delay digital (Gate / Clock) information.” – makenoisemusic.com

One of the most important basic modules I need is an ADSR. An Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release shapes the sound or filter so it’s not simply on all the time. Intellijel’s brand new Dual ADSR has some nice tricks up its sleeve. First it has sliders which I find much more useful than knobs. It also has a wicked cycle mode the pulses the ADSR in time. For the type of music I do this is incredible useful!

“Based on the Roland SH-101 design with several enhancements.Manual GATE buttons. Three timing ranges. Normal and inverted outputs. End of Decay (EOD) logic output. Cycle mode. Dynamic level control of the VCA output via built in linear VCA” – intellijel.com

On Saturday night I went to the second annual Control Voltage Fair at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan. It was at last year’s event where I first got the modular bug. Since that show I learned all I could about the Eurorack modular format and have purchased 31 modules and 4 racks to hold them. The modular “scene” is small and everyone I’ve met online, at Control or at these events has been friendly, helpful and really into it. It was extremely hot and humid on Saturday evening and this year the booths and live shows were outdoors. After a quick walkthrough I first stopped at the Tiptop Audio booth to play with the Trigger Riot and see the new Mix Z prototype. The TR lives up to it’s name as within a 30 seconds you can have a mass of drums making noise. The Mix Z is a mixer with a bus on it’s backside so you don’t have to patch the audio in from Tiptop drum modules. I met Richard Devine at the Make Noise booth. We discussed how he soundproofed his new studio. We also talked about how it’s important for children to hear a lot of music as they develop and how his own kid may end up a little different because of the modular sounds she’s hearing vs Row Row Row Your Boat. Ben Casey from Bangbang was there. He’s the de-facto Elektron dealer in NYC. Musician Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe and Knas the maker of the Polygamist synth were seen hanging out. Before the actual performances startetd Jeremiah Johnson had a small crowd gather around him while he improvised on the massive Control setup. They had the new Mutable Instruments modules in their giant Goikes racks and Jeremiah was making good noise with them. I talked to him after his was done about European gigs. I enjoyed Keith Fullerton Whitman’s performance. Modular sounds good live and outdoors. I like my music more structured and evil but it had moments where I wondered how he was doing it. Richard Devine’s performance had a certain sound to it. Plucky, vactrolish and for most of it happily quite dark. Due to the Tequila icey drinks they were serving right outside the festival I tired out and missed Lori Napoleon. Be sure to see my entire set of photos on flickr: click here

“People walking by outside audibly confused by the noise pouring out on to the street from RichardDevine ‘s set.” – Anthony Saunders

Well now what’s this? The sequencer from a Roland TR machine in Eurorack format that’s what! It’s pretty isn’t it? This is the new Acidlab Robokop. With all the Tiptop and other modular drum modules you can now build the world’s greatest drum machine. If you don’t want to program beats be sure to check out the wild new Tiptop Trigger Riot (I have one coming to me this week via Control!).

“ROBOKOP is the MIAMI-Sequencer as a module with 12×16 patterns and 12 Trigger-Outputs.” – Acidlab

The MakeNoise Phonogene is hands down one of the coolest most interesting Eurorack modules. It’s a sort of sampler, tape machine, looper and grain slicer with CV control. This week there has been a firmware update and the video above shows some of what has changed.

I am happy to report that the Control Voltage Fair is returning on Saturday July 6, 3pm-12am. It will be held once again at the at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan. This is where I first really got into modular synths. Be sure to check out my post and photos from last year’s show: click here.

“Part exposition, part block party, Control Voltage is New York City’s annual fair dedicated to celebrating the modular synthesizer. Synth makers and distributors share their creations by day, inviting audiences to see, hear, touch, and talk about the modular synth. Musicians perform at night celebrating technology, invention, community, creativity. The fair will take place on July 6th, 2013 at Cannon’s Walk, and will feature the interactive fair followed by a concert. Kickoff and wrap-up concerts will take place on July 5th and July 8th. Workshops involving building voltage-controlled instruments will take place throughout the weekend. Participating Exhibitors include (tbc): 4ms, Casper Electronics, Control, Intellijel, Knas, Main Drag, Make Noise, Meme Antenna, Pittsburgh Modular, Skychord, Snazzy FX, Tip Top Audio, Toppobrillo.” – harvestworks.org

I picked up a Jupiter Storm Eurorack module from hexinverter.net at Control last week. Hex’s vcNOIZ became an instant favorite of mine so after less than a minute demoing the “JS” at the store I knew I had to have it. It’s basically 3 special noise oscillators, CV inputs and several outputs. In my demo video above I start off with just a basic output, show you how it sounds going stereo out, I engage the Noise Core Disruptor, modulate with with a Synthesis Technology E355 LFO, FM it with a vcNOIZ and finally sequence it with a Doepfer Dark Time. This is a very fun and useful module. There is a breakout coming later this year that will add even more functionality.

“Jupiter Storm is a cosmic noise oscillator. It creates sounds that can only be described as out of this world! Where it differs entirely from other pure noise generators (such as vcNOIZ) is in the algorithm used to produce the sound. Jupiter Storm has a tonal character very much of its own. Jupiter Storm does not create pure white noise like the vcNOIZ noise oscillator module from hexinverter.net. Rather, it derives what is similar to noise (but not quite) from three square wave oscillators in a unique algorithm. Some of the sounds possible are reminiscent of the sound of a broken radio being blasted with noise from the cosmos, hence, the name “cosmic noise oscillator”. This creates noise with significant harmonic content and other such interesting timbres you will not hear anywhere else! Engage the Noise Core Disruptor to create horrific sounds. In this mode, part of the noise core is creatively abused in order to generate insane sonic textures. Voltage control inputs for all three square wave VCOs in the noise core are available as well as a control voltage input that addresses all three oscillators at once. In this way, very dynamic sounds can be achieved with complex modulation routing. For example, you can apply a taste of LFO modulation to all three oscillators, while modulating a select oscillator simultaneously on its own with something more drastic. This module is based entirely around analogue opamps and discrete logic gates. No microcontrollers are used in the design of this module.” – Control

For those of you who still have not grabbed some modular stuff but want in on the sounds Izotope has released a Sound Library called Modular for Iris. Iris is on my list of interesting plug-ins to get when I have the chance. This library has 600 samples and 300 patches for $34 USD.

“From the vintage classic, the ARP 2600, to modern Cartesian sequencing, the Modular sound library stems from a wide range of both musical and chaotic sources. Start experimenting and you’ll find that any Modular patch could inspire your next track, from pulsing tones to lush effects to glitchy rhythmic syncopations to fat bass sounds.” – izotope.com

If you want to see a huge amount of modular synth patched together and sounding like a few hundred television sets falling down a flight of stairs start following Richard Devine. I’m not certain I would listen to his “music” while driving or even be able to pick out one composition and say this is one I love. However, as a movie soundtrack or in the elevator going up to the top of One World Trade center I think it’s perfect.

“Richard Devine is an Atlanta-based electronic musician and sound designer. Devine has designed sound patches for NI’s Absynth, Reaktor, Battery and Massive. He has also scored commercials for Nike, Touchstone Pictures and engineered and performed his own music worldwide.” – Wikipedia